The global smartphone market will double in size by 2016 to hit shipments of 653 million, according to a study by Ovum. Android will drive the growth and will emerge as the dominant platform, outperforming Apple with a 20.5 percent lead on market share. Smartphones will grow at a CAGR of 14.5 percent between 2010 and 2016, and will account for approximately 40 percent of the mobile phone market. Asia-Pacific will ship just over 200 million units by 2016. Western Europe and North America will remain strong markets with 175 million and 165 million shipments respectively. There will be shifts in dominance for smartphone software platforms, with Android taking the lead with 38 percent market share, compared to Apple iOS' 17.5 percent, by 2016. Just behind Apple iOS will be Windows Phone, with 17.2 percent market share by 2016, followed by BlackBerry OS with 16.5 percent. The partnership between Nokia and Microsoft has redrawn the smartphone market and will result in a reduction in shipments of Symbian-based handsets as Nokia transitions to Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform. However, Nokia still expects to ship 150 million Symbian-based handsets so there will be shipments beyond 2012 and in some regions into 2016.
